Sweden to charge Pirate Bay in copyright case

The Pirate Bay reached another milestone today breaking the 1 million torrents and 10 million peers barrier. But the largest BitTorrent tracker could hit a snag in the coming days as major movie studios and music labels have finally coerced Sweden into officially charging the people running the site.

Despite longstanding complaints from media and content companies that many of the torrents that The Pirate Bay tracks are illegal to download, the site has continued to operate in Sweden – where laws fail to see the hosting of BitTorrent links as piracy. However, Swedish prosecutors have decided to take a different approach this time around charging the service with “accessory and conspiracy to break copyright law” – or in other words, to act as intermediary between people who commit crimes. These charges, if proven, could lead to fines or up to two years in prison.